Suzanne Alaywan

Suzanne Alaywan (born 1974) is a Lebanese-Iraqi poet and painter. She has admitted to Joan Miró as being inspiration to her work, in addition to Japanese art.^[1] She writes predominantly in Arabic.

Personal life

Born in Beirut to an Iraqi father and Lebanese mother.^[2] Due to the Lebanese civil war, Alaywan spent her adolescent years between Andalus, Paris, and Cairo.^[2] She attended the American School of Paris, graduating in 1992. In 1997 she graduated from the faculty of Journalism and Media in the American University of Cairo.^[2]

Publications

Since 1994, Alaywan has published nine collections of poetry, several of which have been translated.^[1]

• Café Bird (1994)
• Angels’ Hideout (1995)
• Unique (1996)
• Temporary Sun (1998)
• No Way Out (1999)
• Provisional Sun (2000)
• A Presence Called Love (2001)
• Blind Lantern (2002)
• Envisioning the Scene (2004)
• Junk Words (2006). This has also been translated as "A Clutter of Words".^[3]
• All Roads Lead to Salah Salem (2008). (Arabic language, has not been translated)
• The Gazelle`s Throw (2011)^[4]

Her works have been included in poetry collections and other collected volumes.

• A poem titled "About Fear" appeared in Issue 14 of A Gathering of the Tribes^[5] (2013), a publication focused on art and culture from a diverse perspective.
• Three poems titled "Montmartre", "Draft of a City", and "Degree Zero of the Desert" appeared in the winter 2013 issue of ArteEast Shadehat called City of Translation.^[6]
• Her work appeared in Diván de poetisas árabes contemporáneas (Divan of Contemporary Arab Women Poets) (2016),^[7] a spanish language book which highlights the importance of poetic history beginning in the mid-20th century. The volume includes work by ten women poets including Alaywan.
• A poem titled " A House made of Sugar" appeared in Lisan, a German-language publication focused on Arabic poetry and fiction in translation.^[8]
• Three poems from her collection "A Clutter of Words" were published in Transference Vol. 5 (2017), an academic journal that focuses exclusively on poetic translations.